Design and fabrication of a high-performance evanescently coupled waveguide photodetector

In this paper, we present the design, fabrication, and measurement of an evanescently coupled waveguide photodetector operating at 1.55 μm, which mainly comprises a diluted waveguide, a single-mode rib waveguide and a p-i-n photodiode with an extended optical matching layer. The optical characteristics of this structure are studied by using a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D FDTD) method. The photodetector exhibits a high 3-dB bandwidth of more than 35 GHz and a responsivity of 0.291 A/W at 1550 nm directly coupled with a cleaved fiber. Moreover, a linear response of more than 72-mW optical power is achieved, where a photocurrent of more than 21 mA is obtained at a reverse bias voltage of 3 V.